"Memory" is an ensemble work that explores the lives of three sons as they host a wake for their father. Daddy dearest, an absentee father who put his Hollywood career ahead of his family, lies in state in the master bedroom and the lives of his sons are dissected as they intersect with each other throughout the manor.
Writer, producer and director Christopher Jaymes was given the opportunity to shoot a film in a Hollywood mansion that had once belonged to Samuel Goldwyn. He turned out a script in a whirlwind five days. A film that started as a place-specific opportunity turned into a people- oriented investigation into basic human themes of love, lust and loss. It helped that Jaymes had friends in mind for the cast including Jeremy Sisto (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Judy Greer ("The Village," Fox's "Arrested Development") and Matt Keeslar ("Waiting for Guffman", "Scream 3").
Like a more manic version of "American Beauty," "Memory" is alternately hysterical and heartbreaking, as the audience watches these men make life-altering decisions under the worst possible circumstances. Suppressing their feelings of inadequacy and emotional abandonment, they show no grief at the loss of their father, but instead turn on themselves, openly acknowledging their inability to have healthy relationships.
Jaymes turns the distinctive look of digital video and hand-held camera shots to his favor as he conjures up feelings of surreal imbalance and real intoxication that come with a bacchanalian wake. The audience experiences the claustrophobic feelings of having one something too many and staying up far too late, becoming a prisoner on one's own home waiting for people to realize it's time to go home.
In the spirit of a Robert Altman slice of life, however, the finale is not tied up neatly. After the party is over, the hosts are left alone to clean up various messes, mostly those they themselves have created.
Writer, producer and director Christopher Jaymes was given the opportunity to shoot a film in a Hollywood mansion that had once belonged to Samuel Goldwyn. He turned out a script in a whirlwind five days. A film that started as a place-specific opportunity turned into a people- oriented investigation into basic human themes of love, lust and loss. It helped that Jaymes had friends in mind for the cast including Jeremy Sisto (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Judy Greer ("The Village," Fox's "Arrested Development") and Matt Keeslar ("Waiting for Guffman", "Scream 3").
Like a more manic version of "American Beauty," "Memory" is alternately hysterical and heartbreaking, as the audience watches these men make life-altering decisions under the worst possible circumstances. Suppressing their feelings of inadequacy and emotional abandonment, they show no grief at the loss of their father, but instead turn on themselves, openly acknowledging their inability to have healthy relationships.
Jaymes turns the distinctive look of digital video and hand-held camera shots to his favor as he conjures up feelings of surreal imbalance and real intoxication that come with a bacchanalian wake. The audience experiences the claustrophobic feelings of having one something too many and staying up far too late, becoming a prisoner on one's own home waiting for people to realize it's time to go home.
In the spirit of a Robert Altman slice of life, however, the finale is not tied up neatly. After the party is over, the hosts are left alone to clean up various messes, mostly those they themselves have created.